20 Tales From Medal Monday Volume 3 Chapter 5

Medal Monday brings many stories of achievement for our members. Here are recent stories from the Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics, as told by you, as posted on the Marathon Maniacs/Half Fanatics Facebook pages.

Congratulations to all of our members who ran this last weekend!

Dani Shown (MM8045, DA565, HF4557) – My Tokyo finisher’s medal and 6 Star medal are traveling fools! They’ve been all over Tokyo, down to Hakone, on a tram, a boat and bus. They are heading out to Kyoto on the bullet train today. They are having great adventures. Big thanks to FIT (Fitness Tours International) for planning such fabulous excursions and thank you Tokyo Marathon!😀. Huge shout out to my youngest (Steele) for coming with me and completing his very first marathon

Jen Merkel (HF18545) – Ran my first full marathon in over 4 years (2nd lifetime). I have another on March 17 so I can qualify for MM.
Newport News One City Marathon
HF #18545

Sameer Khurana (MM13642, DA2835, HF15807) – Tokyo Marathon 2024! My 4th Major ✅

Eric Tunquist (MM16044) – Napa Valley Marathon! Hilly, pretty, peaceful. Nice bling! #57 for this old fart!

Randy Woodward-(MM15271) – Erlanger Chattanooga Marathon is complete. This is the second time running this event.
First 19 miles went okay. Was struggling with cramping. Remaining 7 miles were done with a little 20 year old college student named Grace. She was struggling quite a bit with multiple leg cramps as well. I hung with Grace the remainder of the mileage. Talked with her about marathon stuff. Also had her tell me about herself between walk/jog intervals. It helped the miles melt away. We finished, I got a sweaty hug, life is good.
Continue fighting high heart rate when jogging. Wears me out during these runs. Just want to go to sleep when it’s happening. Pulse dropped when slowing down to walk with Grace, but it’s still high. Guess I should get that fixed.
Now to make the 2 hour drive home.
That’s enough being productive for one day.
Shower, food, sleep, food, sleep, food, sleep.
Marathon number 76 is complete (66 with flag). Still sitting steady at 41 states.

Claire Gladstone- Well, we didn’t have a group photo, but I spotted lots of Marathon Maniacs! Tag yourself if you see your pic! Or add one in comments!! More passed me so quickly, I couldn’t get my camera out😂

Michael Beasley (MM7050) – Tokyo done.

Gregory Rouson (MM12723, DA2354, HF8060) – …and then there were FOUR. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
FOURTH Abbott World Marathon Majors Star (and first race in Japan)…DONE!!! The Tokyo Marathon was one of the most satisfying races I’ve ever completed. Not because of my time but because of how well-run the entire event was from start to finish (there WAS the small matter of long porta potty lines but I digress). I got to see parts of the city that I hadn’t seen yet on this trip and I got to experience just how much this race means to the people here. 10/10 would HIGHLY recommend. Now, bring on the Shamrock Marathon Weekend in two weeks and the TCS London Marathon (and ⭐ #5) next month! #MM12723 #DA2354 #RunInBlue #ForTheFallen #purposefulsteps #wearblueruntoremember #BlackSheepRunners #tokyomarathon2024 #RoadtoSixStar #Roustance